This item came across the AP wires as we were on our final leg back to Los Angeles yesterday. I happened to catch the original headline as "Soldier Not Killed in Action in Iraq; Kin Not Told". I was surprised and saddened, upon clicking to read the full story, to learn that the "soldier" in question just happens to have been 1st Lt. Kenneth Michael Ballard, the only child of Karen Meredith, a Gold Star Mom who we interviewed on The BRAD SHOW [MP3] and got to know a bit while in Crawford, TX.

He was killed in Iraq on Memorial Day 2004...His mother was told it was an accident only last Friday...

The full article also recalls the Army's failure to give the real story to the parents of the NFL's Pat Tillman after he had been used as a poster-boy by the Army and the Bush Administration for his sacrifice. It was more than a year after being killed in Afghanistan before Tillman's parents were given the real skinny on how their son died. One wonders, had not Meredith made a bit of a media figure of herself through her public support of Cindy Sheehan in Crawford and beyond, whether the story of the bungling of her son's death would have made a headline anywhere. Which makes one wonder just how many other families --- who have not become known to the media --- likely have similar stories of incompetencies from "the army we have."

I have been honored to wear a duplicate dog tag of 1st Lt. Kenneth Ballard --- in memory of both him and the thousands of others pointlessly killed in this ridiculous war --- since her mother gave one to us in Crawford. I was sorry to learn that there was even more reason to be troubled by his death yesterday.

Hopefully Karen's burden is made slightly easier knowing that there are thousands of us out here who do give a damn about both her, and the sacrifice that she and her son have made for this country. I think of both of them now every day...

(NOTE TO BUSH APOLOGISTS, DEAD-ENDERS AND OPPORTUNISTS: The above article is critical of the Army's bureaucratic power structure, not those who are putting their life on the line every day for your "President's" war. You can save your cynical, appalling and divisive "Support the Troops!" sloganeering and propagandizing for those who are too stupid to tell the difference between a Chinese-made car magnet on the back of your SUV and true support for the men and women of our armed forces who put their lives on the line on behalf of this country. We support them no end. We wish you'd become one of them --- if you still support this idiotic war --- instead of acting like you actually support them. If you actually did support those folks, you'd be calling for the same accountability from the same abusive and incompetent officials that The BRAD BLOG has been calling for for months on end. And may God bless America.)

Guest blogged by David Edwards

In an exclusive report, London's newspaper The Mail revealed that although euthanasia is illegal in Louisiana Doctors were forced to kill patients as the situation became worse in New Orleans:

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

You may notice that it comes from an entirely different angle than does Jeff Wells, and both of them come from different angles than I do. I can't say I agree completely with either Kraig or Jeff. But they both make valid points, and in both cases their work is surely important enough, and rigorous enough, to post here. Here's Kraig:

It has been almost four years now since 9/11 and the dust, literally and metaphorically speaking, has settled. It is long overdue that we as a nation take a look at the events of that day with dispassionate, analytical, objective, realistic eyes instead of just accepting the "official" 9/11 story at face value.

I mean, has anyone else noticed that the "official" 9/11 story just doesn't pass the "smell test"? In fact, it reeks. See, the "official" story isn't meant to be analyzed but simply taken at face value; this is because at even a cursory examination of the details it unravels VERY quickly. Let's take a good look at some of the more salient points that tear the guts out of the"official" 9/11 story:

Guest blogged by David Edwards

According the latest edition of Denver's Boulder Weekly:

More here...

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Don't look now, but it's September 11th. Four years on, and still we have nothing. No answers. No accountability. No truth. No justice. Just two horrible and totally unnecessary wars, many thousands of people dead, many more thousands of people maimed, our country --- indeed the whole world --- transformed in many ways, none of which seem to be for the better, and nothing of value. Nothing of any value at all.

What's a blogger to do?

I don't know. I honestly do not know. But it's not for lack of trying. I have sat here for hours, trying to write something that would make sense of it all. But I can't --- I just can't. Because it doesn't make any sense, unless you look at it from the proper angle. And I can't seem to get the right angle on it at the moment.

Fortunately, I know somebody who looks at things from an angle I can't quite reach. Permit me to introduce Jeff Wells, author of the excellent blog Rigorous Intuition.

In Jeff's words,

If you don't read anything else today, please spend a few minutes with Jeff's post of August 2004, "The Coincidence Theorist's Guide to 9/11". It starts like this:

Of course everyone is welcome to his or her own opinion.

Another fine selection from amongst our 50+ hours of LIVE broadcasting recently on the ground in Crawford, Texas will be reBRADcast on both Saturday and Sunday. The IBC Radio Network tells us they will be looping the program all day and night on both days, so you should be able to jump in any time! It'll certainly be up and rolling by our usual 7pm ET starting time.

Amongst the folks to be featured: Truthout.org's ace Cindy Sheehan blogger SCOTT GALINDEZ, organizer of the upcoming massive Sep. 24-26 rallies in D.C., LESLIE CAGAN of United for Peace and Justice, Iraq Vet PATRICK RESTA with an important message for George W. Bush and a live ceremony and interview with DENNIS BANKS, co-founder of the American Indian Movement. Plus one kick-ass --- and windy --- song from Camp Casey's default soundboard operator, JESSE DYEN. All that and much more from our Monday, 8/28 "Operation Noble Cause" broadcast from Camp Casey II.

I should finally be off the road by the end of this weekend. A bit more than a month after having been sidetracked from what what was to have been --- in Gilligan parlance --- just "a three hour tour". Nonetheless, there will likely be more Saturday night "encore reBRADcasts" in store for the next several weeks...The reasons for that to become clear (hopefully) in the not-too-distant future...Until then, please enjoy the show...

(And yes, we'll still accept help for gas money for the last leg of our trip home.)

Guest blogged by David Edwards

Here are a few video highlights from the latest edition of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.

While the right-wing apologist nonsense of James Glassman greatly detracted from the overall show, Maher treated us to several worthy moments. In particular, Maher's weekly rant made the case for the removal of George W. Bush from the Office of President. Instead of calling for impeachment directly, Maher suggests a "California-style" recall election.

Given the Republican congress, we aren't certain if a recall election is any more realistic than impeachment or if a recall would be allowed under the Constitution. Our friends at Democratic Underground debated this point earlier in the week.

Maher points out the "unintentional racism" of George Bush's mother, Barbara Bush, during an interview at the Astrodome. FEMA, Mike Brown, Halliburton and other favorites of the Bush regime also do not escape Maher's wit unscathed.

Streaming Video in Real media format

Video in Windows media format

Unrelated but notable: Check out this musical remix (MP3) of Kayne West's comment "George Bush doesn't care about black people" by The Legenday K.O.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

'Impeach Bush' is the #1 searched term on Technocrati today

Click on the banner for more information.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

I've heard it said more than once that the blogger who uses the name Xymphora may have the most advanced bullshit-detector on the internet, and I am not about to argue. Had I not been so overwhelmed lately I would have been reading him more regularly, and I would have been in a much better position to write yesterday's post, Secrecy, Incompetence and Disaster --- What Is The Truth Behind Katrina?.

Better late than never; no? Here's a quick look at Xymphora's recent Katrina-related posts. They are all full of sound reasoning and reliable references. I encourage you to click on these links, read these posts, and check out the references...

...but only if you want to know the truth!

The truth eventually makes its way out...

Glad that Powell is beginning to come clean. Though somehow, we have a feeling that speech ended up being much more painful for hundreds of thousands of Americans and Iraqis who will never be able to shake the "pain" caused by Powell's inability to stand up for his country instead of his blind "loyalty" to his boss.

By the way, Powell additionally acknowledges that he's never seen any connection between Saddam and 9/11. We mention that just for you Bush Dead-Enders out there. As well, the article goes on to discuss Powell's "loyalty" to the "President" instead of the country...

Uh...Here we go again...Your old boss knew, Mr. Powell!

...Not to mention your more recent boss, Dick Cheney, who said at the time that invading Iraq would get the United States "bogged down in the quagmire inside Iraq."

Then again, who could have imagined anyone flying planes into building in New York or forseen the levees breeching in New Orleans?

Sigh...And so it goes in the New American Century...

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Sometimes what looks like incompetence really is incompetence.

UPDATE BY BRAD: An additional thought on the above...

(Blogged by Brad, from somewhere in Arizona)

1) When Days Inn says they offer High-Speed Wireless Internet in their rooms, they don't mean that it actually works. Three different Days Inns over the last three weeks in three different states have been maddeningly disappointing in that regard. None of those Days Inns has offered a refund or even a discount for their inability to deliver what they'd promised.

2) BRAD BLOG Guest Blogger, Joseph Cannon is a genius. Evil genius perhaps, but genius nonetheless. Proof.

3) George W. Bush performed flawlessly in every respect in his response to Hurricane Katrina. Every American can be justifiably bursting with pride in his great leadershipt. His ability to keep our country safe and secure --- precisely as he'd promised so many times in the past --- has never been more perfectly exemplified than in the last two weeks.

4) Out "in the wilds" there is no Internet (information), only Fake Conservative Talk Radio (lies).

5) Talk Radio is 98% Fake Conservative. 1% Actual Conservative. 1% neither of the above.

6) Fake Conservatives on Talk Radio have a remarkable ability to lie in lockstep and with alarming effectiveness across a 24 hour broadcast day (several layers deep in most markets).

7) Americans who listen to Fake Conservatives on the radio are remarkably gullible and ever-surprisingly effective at parrotting what they've heard on the radio even when they are parrotting demonstrable lies and insipid spin. Such Americans are also masters of self-delusion.

8) Trolls and Bush Apologists of all stripes are welcome to post comments on The BRAD BLOG. Unlike most wingnut blogs, we welcome all points of view. Such trolls are not, however, allowed to post under different names or (more importantly) deliver personal attacks towards other commenters. That would include the repeated sad use of calling other commenters "socialists". Not that there's anything particular wrong with being a socialist, but when such language is meant as an attempt at some kind of perjorative with not a shred of supporting evidence to support said name-calling, its nothing more than a sad attempt at a personal attack.

9) The continued inability to follow the rules outlined in #8 will be grounds for having such comments deleted and/or the authors of said comments banned permanently at the discretion of myself or Official BRAD BLOG Concierge, Winter Patriot.

10) Falsely representing oneself as "a troop fighting in Iraq" will bring the same punishment as those violate the rules described in #8. After spending so many weeks and months speaking with actual such troops, and the families of those who've lost their lives fighting that ridiculous War for real, I'm especially sensitive to those jerks who would impersonate same.

11) I am remarkably generous. Please don't push me.

12) There are mountains in Northwest Texas. Beautiful ones. I previously had no idea.

13) Despite Winter Patriot's Open "Impeachment" Thread here and a commenter named Bob's words about my having called for the Impeachment of George W. Bush, I'm not sure I actually ever have. Not publicly anyway. Not that I recall. Not that I'm against it.

14) BRAD BLOG Guest Bloggers David Edwards and Winter Patriot are not only great bloggers, they are tireless patriots and world-class human beings. Top-notch. As good as anyone could find. Anywhere.

15) For those wondering when I might reply to their email or return to full-time BRAD BLOGGING here, please see #1 once more and then count days with me until I'm finally off the road (only to leave again in a few weeks, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it...if it's not under water). Shouldn't be long now...Hopefully those who don't receive a reply will understand, I now receive nearly 1000 messages a day, and it's difficult --- if not impossible --- to read them all, let alone reply to all of them. But I'll do my best. Thanks for understanding.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

In the past few days I have seen an amazing number of reports indicating that, in the wake of Katrina, things are not as they seem. On the surface, they seem awful. But behind the curtain they may well be much worse.

What else is new?

In this post I will share a few of those articles with you; if you have seen similar reports and wish to share them, please do so.

The reports that caught my eye seem to fall into three more-or-less related categories. For want of better terminology, let's call the categories "Secrecy", "Incompetence", and "Vague Suspicions".

Secrecy

The constant demand for secrecy is hardly surprising, given the track record of the current administration. No other administration in American history has spent so much money classifying so many documents, and even taking previously unclassified information out of the public domain.

Federal Government Secrecy at All Time High

And of course, this makes us wonder what's being hidden.

Guest blogged by Joseph Cannon

I am the very model of a modern FEMA handle-er
Corrupt as any character you'll find in Raymond Chandle-er
Accomplished very little since I shot past Mummy's labia
Just bummed around until I found some horsies from Arabia

I lost the horsie gig when all the lawsuits started loading up
And then the Bushies asked if I would like to be their toading pup
I got this job because I know the asses that are kissable
I also know the color of the people who are missable.

Who cares about the puling putrid pesky proletariat?
The blacks are just a burden and no longer will we carry it.
The mother of our Fearless One is so aristocratical
And Rove will blame our own misdeeds on forces Democratical.

Denying food and water may have been a little frightening
But there's a city in the south that badly needed whitening.
Our ultimate intention is replacement of democracy --
Here comes a fundamentalist Dominionist theocracy!